RRR’s proud win at the Oscars 2023 has been the talk of the town for the past few weeks. Ever since its song Naatu Naatu was awarded in the ‘Best Original Song’ category. The makers of the movie brought India fame and accolades, however, while fans and admirers were busy rejoicing the win, reports started floating round accusing them of buying the award, spending a huge amount of money just to buy seats at the award ceremony.
Director SS Rajamouli’s son Karthikeya, who has been attending the events with his family and the leads of the movie, has now broken his silence on the baseless reports. Talking about it he told Hindustan Times that he is clueless as to why people would speculate that the makers of the movie have spent crores on the Oscars campaign. He revealed that they only spent according to the publicity budget and had a plan for the same. ALSO READ: WHAT! Naatu Naatu’s Oscar 2023 Win Was Bought? Alleges Jacqueline Fernandez’s Makeup Artist Shaan Muttathil; Says, ‘Thought Only In India We Could Buy Awards’
Speaking of buying the award, he said, “It is a big joke that we can buy an Oscar if we give money.” Karthikeya expressed that being a 95-year-old institution, “Everything there is done according to a process.” He went on to explain that the only response he had for the baseless rumour is that they can’t buy the love of their fans nor the kind words of Steven Spielberg and James Cameron, who heaped praises on the movie. It is the fans who gave their movie the publicity it deserved.
He spoke about how they had a fixed budget that they only spent on RRR's campaign. He explained that they had allocated Rs 5 crores to spend on the campaign, which also seemed like it was too much. They tried cutting down the cost as much as possible. With proper planning they decided to spend the budget in three phases. After spending Rs 3 crores during the first phase, they increased their budget after the nominations. All in all, they spent Rs 8.5 crores as “more screenings had to be done in New York and Los Angeles.” ALSO READ: WHAT! SS Rajamouli Spent Rs 1.4 Crores For The Entire RRR Team To Attend The Oscars 2023?- Read REPORT
The 31-year-old went on to explain whether the team had to buy tickets to attend the prestigious award ceremony. Quoted by India Today, he said, “Jr NTR, Ram Charan, Prem Rakshit, Rahul Sipliganj and Kala Bhairava were invited by the Oscar committee. Keeravaani and Chandra Bose were in the nomination. Other than those who are in the nomination or called by the committee, one has to buy the Oscar tickets.”
He went on to reveal that Keeravaani had emailed the Oscar committee for their families. Karthikeya continued, “So, we bought each ticket for 1500 dollars. That is the lower level. We spent another 750 dollars for four people to sit on the top and watch. We have bought the tickets. All this has been done officially.”
Talking about the movie, the SS Rajamouli directorial is set in the 1920s. It follows the journey of a tribal leader, Komaram Bheem, and a police officer, Alluri Sitarama Raju’s, journey to fight for the freedom of their people from the British.
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